胡志明市2

day 2 of Ho Chi Minh City tour. before we get into the juicy bits of old monuments and commi-highness, lets first talk about breakfast in the hotel. we stayed in Equatorial Hotel, so naturally breakfast was there at Chi Chat Cafe. the day before, after dinner on the way back to hotel, i had such a strong craving for Nasi Lemak. i wished Alladin's magic lamp could grant me a simple plate of nasi lemak. the tour guide told us breakfast at the hotel would be American style. But but but, you just gotta hold your breath here... to my sheer delight, i found NASI LEMAK amongst bread, sausages and salad!!!! if you think the Vietnamese version will disappoint you, you are so absolutely wrong. the nasi was simply tasty and had the freshing aroma of coconut milk and panda in it. its like tasting the most divine, most traditional nasi lemak ever!!!

leaving you with the image of a tantalizing plate of Nasi Lemak, we move on to more historical part of HCMc tour.

first destination of the day was Reunification Palace. from the name of the palace, it outwardly suggests that this is the place where they signed the reunification treaty of the South and the North. this palace was also the place where the president of the south used to stay. long time ago, Vietnam was a French colony, and this palace used to be built according to the French architecture. however unfortunately, in the futile attempt to kill the first president of the South by dropping 2 bombs on the palace, half of it was ruined and the survived president ordered for the palace to be rebuilt. they say 风水不好. me being a Russian fanatic, would comment that on first look of the palace, it looks somewhat resemblance of the museum in Moscow's Victory park. lovely place. i would recommend it if you are interested in the period of American rule in Vietnam.

next on, to the place where i felt so sick in the stomach - the War museum. this museum displayed a collection of pictures taken during the Vietnam war. it is in here, that everyone who came, was brought back to the dark side of humanity. it was in here, one would ponder why men never learnt from the tragedy of wars. it is in here, that one is reminded that mankind's history could not be separated from war. it is also in here, that everyone of us is reminded of how fortunate we are that we have peace, and may this peace continue to stay for as long as possible. in the American troops' attempt to wipe out the Viet Congs, a kind of bio-chemical or more so like a kind of bio-weapon - Agent Orange was sprayed over forests that covered Vietnam. this agent was used to cause the premature wilting of vegetation. Agent Orange is nothing close to being as innocent as its name sounds. anyone who breathe in Agent Orange, will give birth to offspings that are highly deformed. pictures of deformed children lined across the wall made anyone who took the slightest glance felt their hearts twisted for a moment in pity and heartache.

leaving the heartache behind, and taking the insights taken away from the visit, we move on to Cu Chi Tunnel (pronounced as : Gu Ji Tunnel). Cu Chi tunnel is built in Cu Chi village some about 70km away from HCMc. CC tunnel was dug by Viet Congs over a span of 20 long years. the tunnel measured some 200km underground, differentiated into 3 levels, 3m, 7m and 10m underground, which eventually linked up and ended with the Saigon river. with the most primitive tools used to dig the tunnel, you will so in awe of the intelligence of the Viet Congs. for such strong instinct of survival and the display of great intelligence with the most basic tools, you just gotta take your hat off for the Communist. this reminded me of what my prof once said, people fight for many things, and ideology is one thing that people fight for and died for. how true is that.

well, how can a holiday be called a holiday without shopping?!?!!? the day could end no better than letting the biggest market in HCM - Ben Thanh Market babysit us for the evening!!! Ben Thanh market was comparable to South Korea's Dong Dae Moon and Nan Dae Moon.

*photo taken at War Museum.

'i set the dove free to find peace, may the souls who died in the war be brought to a peaceful war-free paradise!'